Adjustable garment hanger

ABSTRACT

An adjustable garment hanger having a pair of jaw members provided with a pair of upwardly extending lever members and having fulcrum means positioned therebetween so as to mount the lever members and the jaw members for relative pivoting movement around said fulcrum means such as to move said jaw members between open and closed positions and with said hanger being provided with jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means of an adjustable type operable to lock said jaw members on opposed sides of portions of a garment to be engaged and held thereby and which may be of virtually any desired thickness because of the adjustability of the jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means and with the device further being provided with controllably adjustable open-position-adjusting means for determining the extent of opening movement of the opposed jaw members when the jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means is moved into jaw-open released position. In a preferred form, the adjustable garment hanger may be provided with hanger intercoupling means for coupling two or more of such hangers together in offset and usually downwardly displaced relationship and in a manner such that the hook member of one of said hangers supports the entire group of intercoupled hangers whereby to greatly enhance the efficiency of space utilization such that for greater than the normal number of hangers and garments supported thereby can be positioned within a given spacial region below a hanger-supporting pole, or the like.

United States Patent 1 Levitin v [4 1 July 10, 1973' ADJUSTABLE GARMENT HANGER [76] Inventor: Benajmin Levitin, c/o P.O. Box

[52] US. Cl 223/96, 24/248 SA, 24/251 [51] lnt.'C1. A47j 51/14 [58] Field of Search 223/85, 91, 93, 96; 24/251, 259 GC, 261 GC, 262 GC, 248 SA, 249 LS, 139

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,479,356 8/1949 Hennes m .J 223/91 X 1,219,719 3/1917 Fuller et al. 24/251 2,560,613 7/1951 Wahl 24/248 SA 1,397,930 11/1921 Jefferies..... 24/262 GC 2,337,723 12/1943 Levin 223/96 2,379,634 7/1945 Hall 223/96 2,163,295 6/1939 Subick 223/96 3,502,251 3/1970 Hart ..223/96 Primary Examiner-George H. Krizmanich [57] ABSTRACT An adjustable garment hanger having a pair of jaw members provided with a pair of upwardly extending lever members and having fulcrum means positioned therebetween so as to mount the lever members and the jaw members for relative pivoting movement around said fulcrum means such as to move said jaw members between open and closed positions and with said hanger being provided with jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means of an adjustable type operable to lock said jaw members on opposed sides of portions of a garment to be engaged and held thereby and which may be of virtually any desired thickness because of the adjustability of the jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means and with the device further being provided with controllably adjustable open-position-adjusting means for determining the extent of opening movement of the opposed jaw members when the jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means is moved into jaw-open released position. In a preferred form, the adjustable garment hanger may be provided with hanger intercoupling means for coupling two or more of such hangers together in offset and usually downwardly displaced relationship and in a manner such that the hook member of one of said hangers supports the entire group of intercoupled hangers whereby to greatly enhance the efficiency of space utilization suchrthat for greater than the normal number of hangers and garments sup ported thereby can be positioned within a given spacial region below a hanger-supporting pole,or the like.

1 Claim, 18 Drawing; Figures PAIENIEU 3.744.686

SHEET 2 BF 4 FIG. 7

M/Vf/WM' BENJAM nu LEvn'm Pmmww 3.744.686

' sum 3 or 4 AWE/V706 BENJAMUJ LEVITIN ADJUSTABLE GARMENT HANGER Generally speaking, the present invention is directed to an improved and adjustable garment hanger capable of very quickly and easily engaging and grasping any desired portion of a garment of virtually any desired thickness and also arranged so that, when open, the opposed jaw members of the garment hanger have an adjustable, transverse, open jaw space therebetween suitable for the easy and quick engagement thereof with clothing of a desired thickness. In other words, when the hanger is intended to normally grasp relatively thin clothing members, or the like, the open spacing of the opposed jaw members is normally adjusted to provide a relatively narrow open space so that the closing and locking thereof will require a minimum of movement. Conversely, when the garment hanger is intended to normally grasp and hold relatively thick garment members, the normally open jaw space is adjusted to provide a greater transverse open spacing therebetween such as to be suitable for grasping such a thick garment portion. The jaw members are effectively operated by a novel type of adjustable jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means which functions to close the opposed jaw members to just that extent required to firmly engage a garment portion of virtually any desired thickness positioned therebetween and further arranged to just as easily release the jaw members to allow them to effectively open and thus release them from holding engagement with portions of the garment member when it is to be removed from the garment hanger.

Prior art garment hangers have generally been of either the fixed type or the movable-locking-jaw type and, in the latter type, they have generally been nonadjustable that is, the opposed jaw members are so arranged and the means for locking same is so arranged that the jaw members have a predetermined and nonadjustable space therebetween when closed and locked. This is extremely undesirable because a great many different types of garments having variable thicknesses may be intended to be supported by a garment hanger, but the prior art type of locking-jaw hanger mentioned above is only capable of functioning in an optimum manner when a garment portion of one particular predetermined thickness is grasped between the opposed locked jaw portions thereof.

The novel adjustable garment hanger of the present invention is of the opposed locked-jaw type, but is fully adjustable over a wide range of closed-jaw spacing relationships so as to be capable of firmly grasping and locking any garment portion lying between a predetermined minimum and maximum thickness, thus greatly increasing the general utility of the garment hanger. Also, in order to further enhance the above operation, the novel garment hanger of the present invention is provided with means for adjusting the normal jaw-open position so as to be suitable for the reception of garment portions of various thicknesses and yet not so as to be extremely widely spaced originally far beyond the space required for normally thin garment portions. In other words, the normal jaw-open spacing can be adjusted to be just slightly in excess of the normal maximum thickness of the type of garment portion which is normally expected to be grasped between the opposed jaw portions when locked. Additionally, the novel garment hanger of the present invention is made of a relatively unbreakable plastic construction which also is virtually of a non snagging type which will minimize all tendency to snag and pull the threads of garments supported thereby or of adjacent garments coming into contact therewith.

Additionally, the novel garment hanger of the present invention is capable of being folded into an extremely small-volume, non-use storage and shipping relationship which can be readily modified after delivery into a normal use position by even an unskilled person.

Additionally, the novel garment hanger of the present invention in one form is provided with intercoupling means making it possible to maximize the number of hangers supported within a given spacial region underlying a conventional transversely directed hanger supporting pole such as is normally provided in closets and at other convenient locations for the support of multiple hangers and garments carried thereby.

With the above points in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel adjustable garment hanger of the character referred to herein, generically and/or specifically, and which may include any or all of the features referred to herein, either individually or in combination, and which is ofextremely simple, inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture construction and, therefore, suitable for mass manufacturing and distribution in any of its various different aspects, intended for any of its various different purposes or for any sub stantially equivalent or similar purposes, and which further is capable of being shipped in knocked-down or folded form requiring a very small space volume and which is readily capable of being moved from said storage or shipping configuration into a use configuration after delivery by unskilled personnel.

Further objects are implicit in the detailed description which follows hereinafter (which is to be considered as exemplary of, but not specifically limiting, the present invention), and said objects will be apparent to persons skilled in the art after a careful study of the detailed description which follows.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention, several exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the hereinbelow-described figures of the drawings and are described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a reduced-size, fragmentary, perspective view illustrating one exemplary embodiment of the invention in an operative position supporting a garment and carried by a transversely directed auxiliary pole which is shown in exemplary shortened form in phantom lines only since it does not comprise any part of the invention. This is also true of the pair of trousers shown fragmentarily in phantom lines, which also comprises no part of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectional view taken substantially along the plane and in the dis rection indicated by the arrows .2-2 of FIG. 1. This view shows the opposed jaw members, the upper lever members, and the jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means in the locked-jaw, closed, clamped relationship thereof in solid lines and shows the normal jawopen released relationship thereof in phantom lines with the jaw-closing-and-opening; movement being indicated by the double-headed arrows at the bottom ends of the jaw members.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of that portion of the apparatus of FIG. 2 enclosed within the phantom-line circle designated by the arrow 3 in FIG. 2 and clearly illustrates the operation of the upper lever-member-biasing and controllably adjustable jaw-open-position-determining means.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, partly broken-away view partly in vertical elevation and partly in section, taken substantially along the plane and in the direction indicated by the arrows 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a view intended to illustrate the operation of the upper controllably adjustable jaw-open-positiondetermining means so that the opposed jaw members will assume a variety of different transverse spacings when in open relationship in accordance with the adjustment thereof.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view drawn to substantially the same scale as FIG. 1 and viewed from substantially the same vantage point, but shows the device in a nonuse, folded storage or shipping configuration which occupies a relatively small space volume.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the plane and in the direction indicated by the arrows 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a reduced-size, fragmentary, somewhat diagrammatic view illustrating a first step in one exemplary mode of quick, one-handed attachment or engagement of the novel hanger of the present invention with a portion of a garment to be supported thereby, such as the cuff portion of a pair of pants, for example, although not specifically so limited. In this view the jaw members are shown in fully open position about to be squeezed together by one hand of a person using the hanger onto the garment portion which is shown fragmentarily in phantom.

FIG. 9 is the next sequential view illustrating the next step in engagement of the garment portion by manually squeezing together the previously spaced-apart jaw members into engagement with the garment portion which causes the locking slide pin to drop under the action of gravity into locking and retaining relationship.

FIG. 10 is the next sequential view illustrating the removal of the persons hand, shown fragmentarily in phantom in FIGS. 8 and 9, and illustrating the fact that the hanger is in fully locked engagement with the garment portion and will remain so until released in the manner illustrated in sequence in FIGS. 11 and 12.

FIG. 11 illustrates, in diagrammatic fragmentary form, one exemplary (but non-specifically limiting) first step in quick, one-handed disengagement of the previously engaged hanger from a garment portion previously gripped thereby and, in this case, comprising the inverting of the hanger and the gripped portion of the garment and the immediately subsequent, manual, inward squeezing of the jaw members by the hand of the person holding the hanger (said hand being shown fragmentarily in phantom) so that the locking slide pin will be released and will drop under the action of gravity into a jaw-releasing relationship such as is shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 illustrates the next sequential step in the releasing operation started in FIG. 11 and comprises the releasing of the manual force previously exerted inwardly on the jaw members so that they will open in the manner illustrated in FIG. 12 and will release the previously firmly held garment portion so that it can be removed, also in the manner clearly shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary view of just a pair of spaced, opposed jaw members (shown in open relationship) with the jaw members being of a slightly modified type as to the frictional surface means carried thereby for preventing an undesired slippage of garment portions adapted to be grasped therebetween.

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary elevational view taken in the direction of the arrows 1414 of FIG. 13 and. illustrates a representative one of the two modified jaw members of FIG. 13 it being understood that the other jaw member is similar in appearance and, therefore, is not separately shown in view of the obvious redundancy thereof.

FIG. 15 is a view similar to FIG. 13, but illustrates a further slight modification of the frictional surface means of the opposed jaw members.

FIG. 16 is a fragmentary, elevational view taken in the direction of the arrows l6l6 of FIG. 15 and illustrates a representative one of the two similar jaw members shown in FIG. 15 it being understood that the other jaw member is similar in construction and appearance and, therefore, is not separately shown in view of the obvious redundancy of such a separate showing.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a modified hanger member having one element of one exemplary repre sentative type of hanger intercoupling means carried thereby and showing adjacent thereto another similar hanger having a second element of a representative exemplary form of such hanger intercoupling means and with said first and second elements being engageable and disengageable for effectively coupling two or more hangers together for common support by a single upper hanger hook member. This view also shows a third representative hanger hung on the opposite side of the second hanger from the engagement of the second hanger with respect to the first hanger so as to provide a balanced vertical array of three such intercoupled hangers, which is to be considered as representative of various different numbers thereof and of arrangements where both sides of a single hanger carry depending hangers therefrom.

FIG. 18 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectional view with certain portions broken away, taken substantially along the plane and in the direction indicated by the arrows 18-18 of FIG. 17, but ilustrates the uppermost hanger in locked engagement with respect to an upper portion of a garment (shown fragmentarily in phantom lines) adapted to be supported thereby. Furthermore, this view shows the upper portion of a first depending hanger, coupled to the uppermost hanger, fragmentarily and in phantom lines 13 it being understood that the engagement of the third hanger on the opposite side of the second hanger shown in FIG. 17 is similar, although oppositely positioned from that shown in FIG. 18 and, therefore, does not require a separate, independent, and redundant showing thereof.

The novel adjustable garment hanger H of the present invention in a preferred form comprises a pair of jaw members, such as are generally designated by the reference numerals 20 and 22, which are provided with a corresponding pair of upwardly extending lever members, such as are generally designated at 24 and 26, respectively. In the example illustrated, each jaw member integrally carries its individual corresponding upwardly extending and converging lever member at a location substantially at the center of the jaw member so that, in effect, it may be said that each of the two jaw members 20 and 22 is extended in a normally horizontal plane on each side of its corresponding upwardly extending, integral lever member 24 and 26, respectively.

In the example illustrated, each of the jaw members and 22 and each of the integral upwardly extending lever members 24 and 26 is made of similar flat, spatulate construction such as of molded plastic, or the like, although not specifically so limited.

The hanger includes fulcrum means positioned between the lever members 24 and 26 and spacing them apart to an extent such as to permit relative pivotal movement of either or both of said lever members 24 and 26 and the corresponding depending jaw members 20 and 22 relative to the fulcrum means, one exemplary form of which is generally designated by the reference numeral 28, in a jaw-opening and a jaw-closing manner and in a direction substantially perpendicular to the upward direction of said lever members 24 and 26 and the transverse extension direction of the jaw members 20 and 22, this jaw-opening and jaw-closing movement being indicated by the arcuate doubleheaded arrows 30 of FIG. 2. The detailed construction of the exemplary first form of the fulcrum means indicated generally at 28 will be described in greater detail hereinafter.

The garment hanger is provided with controllably adjustable 'jaw-open-position-determining adjustment means for adjusting the at-rest, jaw-open position of the jaw members 20 and 21. In the exemplary first form of the invention illustrated, said means is generally designated by the reference numeral 32 and comprises controllably-length-adjustable means which, in the example illustrated, takes the form of lever-member-tensioning spring means 34 and which is arranged to adjust the normal at-rest position of the two upper ends 36 of the lever members 24 and 26 and which, because of the fulcrum means 28, correspondingly adjusts the normal attest, jaw-open positionof the opposed jaw members 20 and 22, such asis shown in solid lines in FIG. 5. It will be understood that said jaw-open-position-determining means 32 can be controllably adjusted as to its effective operating length between the'upper ends 36 of the lever members 24 and 26 so as to correspondingly change the at-rest position of the open lower ends of the jaw members 20 and 22 so as to be in just about the right spacing for grasping a portion of a garment or other material of a particular desired thickness lying anywhere in the range between a predetermined minimum thicknessand a predetermined maximum thickness.

In the example illustrated, the above-mentioned adjustment of the effective operating length of the lever-member-tensioning spring means 34 acting between the upper ends 36 of the two jaw members 24 and 26 takes the form of manually adjustable means, as indicated at 38, comprising headed screw means of a specialized, substantially single-thread type threaded into and engaging the inner surface of the helical turns of the spring 34 so that said headed screws 38 can be screwed inwardly or outwardly relative to open opposite ends of the spring 34 which has the effect of modifying the overall coupling length thereof relative to the upper ends 36 of the jaw members 24 and 26. However, this is merely one exemplary type of adjusting means and is not to be construed as specifically limiting the invention thereto.

The hanger is also provided with a second type of controllably adjustable means comprising what might be termed jaw operating, retaining, and releasing vertically directed, laterally open slots 42 positioned in each of the two lever members 24' and 26 and carrying a laterally directed, double-headed locking slide pin, such as is indicated generally at 44, having two oppositely positioned, enlarged heads 46 positioned outwardly of each of the two slots 42 and being larger than said slots and having a central shaft portion 48 extending laterally through the two slot members 42. The mounting of the slide pin 44 is made possible by having one of the heads (the right head 46, in the example shown in FIG. 2) threadedly engageable and disengageable with respect to the corresponding end of the shaft 48. I

In the example illustrated, the outer surface of each lever member 24 and 26 carries a series of frictional locking or holding serrations, such as indicatedat 50, along each vertical outer edge of the portions of the lever mebers on each side of the two vertical slots 42 and positioned immediately inwardly of the corresponding enlarged heads 46 of the slide pin 44. The arrangement is such that when the opposed jaw members 20 and 22 are manually clamped into closed position on an upper garment portion, such as that shown in phantom at 52 in FIG. 2, for example, the slide pin 44 can move downwardly under the action of gravity or, if desired, can be forcibly manually moved downwardly) until its further travel is prevented by reason of the engagement of the inner surfaces of the heads 46 with the outwardly diverging portions of the lever members 24 and 26. At this time each of the two heads 46 will become effectively locked with respect to the locking serrations 50 and the entire jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means, indicated generally at 40 will be in a jaw-closed, locked relationship with the spacing between the lower ends of the jaw members 24 and 26 being determined substantially entirelyby-the thickness of the garment portion 52 grasped therebetween. In other wordsrthe slide pin 44 will move downwardly to a greater extent when a thin garment portion is grasped by the jaw members 24 and 26 than it will when a thick garment portion is grasped between the opposed jaw members and, in either case, the slidepin 44 will remain in a corresponding locked position until manually released.

The above-mentioned manual releasing operation may be accomplished by merely manually grasping the outside of the jaw members 24 and 26 and squeezing them slightly together while inverting the entire hanger so that the slide pin 44 can slide away from the jaw members under the action of gravity into a jaw-open position similar to that shown in phantom lines in FIG. 2 (except that the entire device would bepositionally inverted under the conditions just described). This type of jaw-opening-or-releasing operation is particularly desirable since it only requires one hand to operate the entire hanger in a jaw-releasing manner and since, further, the re-engagement of the jaws with a garment portion can be accomplished with one hand by the exact reverse of the above-described operation. This type of operation is best shown in FIGS. 8-12 and is described in greater detail hereinafter.

However, if desired, the slide pin 44 can be manually lifted upwardly to release the jaw members 24 and 26 from a locked relationship, such as is shown in solid lines in FIG. 2, which will allow said jaw members to move into an open relationship such as is shown in phantom lines in FIG. 2.

In the example illustrated, the controllably lengthadjustable means indicated at 32 includes the two headed screws 38, each of which has a shaft portion 54 having a single-turn thread 56 which facilitates the threading inwardly or outwardly of the screw 38 within the helical spring 34. This is best shown in FIG. 3 with respect to one exemplary portion of said structure. However, it should be noted that the male and female relationships may be reversed so that each of the two screws 38 may actually be a female element threadedly engaging the outside of the spring 34, if desired, and further it should be noted that, in certain forms of the invention, the spring 34 may be eliminated and any laterally directed coupling link may be substituted in lieu thereof and, in this latter case, the necessary elasticity (in the exemplary form provided by the spring 34) needed to allow the jaw members 24 and 26 to be moved into closed position when desired, may be provided by the inherent elasticity of the lever members 24 and 26, which may be capable of effective lateral bending to provide this function.

In the example illustrated, the previously mentioned fulcrum means 28 comprises a transversely directed member having a pair of opposed, half-round, transversely directed fulcrum ends 58 carried integrally by the lower end of a support hook member, generally designated by the reference numeral 60, which is maintained in position by the provision of a hole 62 in the lower shank portion 64 thereof and through which the lateral link (in the example illustrated, the tensioning spring 34) extends. The fulcrum means 28 also includes appropriate seat means 66 formed on the inner surface of each of the lever members 24 and 26 near the upper ends thereof and cooperable to pivotally receive the corresponding pivot or fulcrum ends 58.

The hook member 60 includes a conventional hook 68 adapted to be placed over a conventional closet pole, or the like, such as that shown partially in phantom lines at 70 in FIGS. 1 and 2, so that the entire hanger and garment supported thereby can be carried by said pole 70.

In the example illustrated, the hanger H is provided with travel-limiting abutment or stop means, such as indicated at 72 in one exemplary form, positioned so as to limit arcuate displacement of the engagement hook means 60 in a lateral direction as is clearly evident from a careful examination of FIGS. 2 and 5. This prevents the hook means 60 from inadvertently becoming substantially laterally displaced so as to lie in a substantial laterally angularly displaced relationship with respect to a true central plane btween the jaw members and lever members of the hanger.

It should be noted that the jaw members 20 and 22 converge transversely from the lever members toward the outer ends of said jaw members and that they also converge downwardly to facilitate the proper engagement of interfaces thereof with garments in a most effective garment-holding fashion.

It should also be noted that the mounting of the hook member 60 is such that it may be pivoted around the spring 34 into a position such as is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 with the entire hanger in what might be termed a convenient storage or shipping position which occupies a relatively small space volume and yet which allows the hanger to be moved into fully operative position, such as is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, by an unskilled person. The only requirement is that the slide pin 44 has to be removed from the pair of slots 42 and replaced therein to make either the collapsing operation into the small-space-volume storage and shipping relationship shown in FIG. 6 possible or to make possible the reverse expansion operation thereof into the use configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and this requires little or no skill.

FIGS. 8 through 10 illustrate one exemplary and highly desirable mode of engagement of the garment hanger of the first form of the invention with a portion of a garment and which requires only one-handed oper-' ation of the garment hanger. This sequence of views begins with the open position of the opposed jaw members 20 and 22 of the garment hanger prior to engagement with a portion of a garment such as the trouser cuff shown fragmentarily in phantom at 52, for example, although not specifically so limited. The outside surfaces of the opposed jaw members are adapted to be grasped from above by opposed members of the persons hand, such as a thumb on one side and one or more fingers on the other side, which will be referred to hereinafter as opposed digital members and which are indicated in somewhat diagrammatic form in phantom at 74 in FIGS. 8 and 9.

The open opposed jaw members 20 and 22 held in one hand of a person about to engage said jaw members with the garment portion 52 are then moved relative to the garment portion 52 until it is positioned between the open opposed jaw members 20 and 22 in a preengagement position such as that shown in FIG. 8, after which the opposed digital members 74 are forcibly squeezed toward each other in the direction of the phantom line arrows 76 shown in FIG. 9, which, of course, forces the opposed jaw members 20 and 22 together into engagement with the garment portion 52, which is effectively locked between the opposed jaw members 20 and 22 in the manner clearly shown in FIG. 9. While this action is occurring, the slide pin 44 of the previously mentioned jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means drops under the action of gravity directly downwardly in the direction of the phantom line arrows 78 until the heads 46 engage the serrations 50 carried along the outer surfaces of each of the two lever members 24 and 26 and are held thereby in a locked and retained relationship such as is clearly shown in FIG. 9.

Then the opposed digital members 74 of the person's hand, which thus far have been holding and operating the opposed jaw members 20 and 22, are removed therefrom and the opposed jaw members 20 and 22 are retained in fully locked engagement with respect to the garment portion 52 by the downwardly displaced slide pin 44 in the manner clearly shown in FIG. 10.

Thus it will be understood that the entire garmentengaging operation shown in sequence in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10 has only required the use of one hand insofar as the garment hanger itself is concerned, while the other hand may be employed for positioning the garment portion 52.

FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate in sequence a garmentreleasing operation effectively comprising the reverse of the garment-engaging operation shown in FIGS. 8-10 inclusive and, in this sequence, the first step optionally may be to invert the entire garment hanger in the direction of the arrow indicated by the reference numeral 80 in FIG. 11 from its normal hanging position such as is shown in FIG. into the inverted relationship shown in FIG. 11.

Either prior to the above-mentioned inverting operation, or immediately after same, the digital members (opposed one or more fingers and thumb) shown in phantom and indicated by the reference numeral 74 are placed in opposed grasping relationship relative to the outside surfaces of the jaw members and 22, preferably from the direction of the top of the hanger (which actually would mean from a bottom direction because of the inversion of the hanger as shown in FIG. 11), and said digital members 74 are forcibly squeezed toward each other in the direction of the phantom line arrows 82. This will release the slide pin 44 from its previous locked relationship with the heads 46 thereof locked against the serrations, such as best shown at 50 in FIG. 2, so that the entire slide pin 44 can drop under the action of the arrows 84 toward a jaw-open position thereof such as is best shown in FIG. 12. As soon as this occurs, the inward force exerted by the opposed digital members 74 is released and the opposed jaw members 20 and 22 are allowed to open under the action of the spring 34, as best shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, into a jawopen relationship, such as is clearly shown in FIG. 2, which will release the previously existing engagement of the opposed jaw members 20 and 22 with respect to the garment portion 52, which can then be withdrawn from the nowopen jaw members 20 and 22 in the manner indicated bythe directional arrow 86 in FIG. 12, thus fully releasing the garment portion 52 and allowing its complete removal, and placing the jaw members 20 and 22 in a position for the next succeeding garment-engaging operation, such as illustrated in sequence in FIGS. 8-10 and previously described.

Thus it will be seen that the garment-releasing operation, shown in sequence in FIGS. 11 and 12 and described above, requires the use of one hand only to operate the complete garment hanger while the other hand may be employed for grasping and removing the garment portion. i

It should be understood that while the foregoing description of the garment-engaging and garmentdisengaging operations specifies a particularly advantageous one-handed form of garment hanger operation, the invention is in no way specifically so limited.

FIGS. 13 and I4 illustrate a slight modification of the invention and, therefore, similar parts are designated by similar reference numerals, followed by the letter a,

however. In this modification, the lower ends of the jaw should be understood that the corrugations may extend in any desired direction.

FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate a further very slight modification of the invention and, therefore, similar parts are designated by similar reference numerals, followed by the letter 12, however. In this modification, the lower ends of the jaw members 2412 and 26b have a slightly different representative and exemplary type of frictional engagementsurface means, indicated generally at 88b, comprising a plurality of small projections 90b. However, the two types of frictional engagement surface means shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 in the first in stance and shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 in the second instance are merely representative of a number of other forms thereof intended to be included and comprehended within the broad scope of the present invention.

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate a slightly modified form of the invention and, therefore, parts which are structurally or functionally equivalent or substantially similar to previously described and illustrated parts are designated by similar reference numerals, followed by the letter 0, however. The major difference of this modification of the invention from the first form previously described is the fact that it includes hanger intercoupling means 92 cooperable for coupling at least two (or more) hangers together for common support by the hook 68c of the uppermost one of the hangers, as is clearly shown in FIG. 17.

The exemplary form of said hanger intercoupling means indicated generally at 92 is illustrated as taking the form of a first intercoupling element 94 carried by each upper hook member 68c and. a plurality of second lower intercoupling elements 96 carried by correspondingly oppositely side-positioned portions of the lever members 24c and 260 of each of the garment hangers.

In the exemplary form illustrated in FIGS. 17 and 18,

each of the above-mentioned first intercoupling elements 94 is manually coupleable and decoupleable with respect to any of the second intercoupling elements 96 of any other laterally adjacent garment hanger for effectively coupling the two hangers together in the manner best shown fragmentarily in FIG. 18 and illustrated with resepct to two different, oppositely positioned coupling engagements intercoupling three garment hangers in FIG. 17.

In the exemplary form illustratedin FIGS. 17 and 18, each of the first intercoupling elements 94 comprises a double-headed insertion member, also indicated by the reference numeral 94, having a pair of enlarged heads 98 at opposite ends thereof, while each of the second intercoupling elements 96, in the exemplary form illustrated, comprises a receiving recess in the corresponding lever members 24c and 260 adapted to receive and retain either one of the enlarged heads 98 of any one of the first-mentioned intercoupling members 94 therein in the manner most clearly shown in FIG. 18.

The engagement and disengagement of the first and second intercoupling elements 94 and 96 is made possible in the exemplary form illustrated by reason of the fact that each of the receiving recesses 96 has an upper enlarged entry aperture 100 which is slightly larger than the enlarged heads 98 of the first intercoupling element 94 so as to be capable of receiving any one of said enlarged heads 98 therethrough, plus the further fact that each of said receiving recesses 96 has a lower,

narrower retaining slot 102 which is narrower than the enlarged heads 98 so that, after insertion of an enlarged head 98 through the enlarged entry aperture 100, the entire first intercoupling element 94 can be moved downwardly toward the bottom of the narrower retaining slot 102, which will, of course, lock the corresponding enlarged head 98 inside of the inner surface portions of the hanger at each side of the narrow retaining slot 102, thus positively intercoupling, in a vertically adjacent and slightly laterally offset manner, at least two hangers.

Of course, it should be understood that a second hanger may be coupled to the opposite side of the uppermost hanger also, if desired, so as to provide a balanced array with one upper hanger supporting two lower hangers on each side of the upper hanger. Also, a staggered supporting arrangement such as is shown in FIG. 17 may be easily provided, or any combination of the various intercoupling elements may be employed, to maximize the number of hangers provided within a relatively limited space. This is particularly advantageous when the garments to be supported by the hangers are not very long and would otherwise leave a great deal of wasted space therebelow.

It should be understood that the figures and the specific description thereof set forth in this application are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specific structure shown in the figures and specifically described hereinbefore. Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantially equivalent constructions embodying the basis teachings and inventive concept of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable garment hanger, comprising: a pair of transversely extended jaw members provided with a pair of upwardly extending lever members; fulcrum corresponding depending jaw members around said fulcrum means in a jaw-opening and jaw-closing manner substantially perpendicular to the upward direction of said lever members and the transverse extension direction of said jaw members; lengthadjustable', effective lever-member-tensioning means positioned in vertically spaced relationship with respect to said fulcrum means and effectively interconnecting corresponding portions of said lever members and having an at-rest jaw-open position providing a predetermined, controllably adjustable, initial transverse spacing between said corresponding portions of said lever members which correspondingly causes a predetermined, controllably adjustable transverse spacing between said jaw members when in fully open relationship; and jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means operable into one extreme jaw-open position releasing said jaw members and allowing said lever-member-tensioning means to effectively cause said jaw members to move into a fully open relationship and forcibly operable to any desired extent toward an opposite extreme jaw-closed relationship whereby to forcibly resiliently close said opposed, previously open jaw members into a jaw-closed relationship of any desired extent wherein said opposed jaw members are spaced apart by any different predetermined desired spacing corresponding to the thickness of a garment to be engaged and held by said closed, opposed jaw members, including manually adjustable means formodifying the initial effective length of said lever-member-tensioning means for modifying said initial spacing between said corresponding portions of said lever members and said initial spacing between said jaw members when in fully open relationship. 

1. An adjustable garment hanger, comprising: a pair of transversely extended jaw members provided with a pair of upwardly extending lever members; fulcrum means positioned between said lever members and spacing them apart to an extent such as to permit relative pivoting movement of said lever members and the corresponding depending jaw members around said fulcrum means in a jaw-opening and jaw-closing manner substantially perpendicular to the upward direction of said lever members and the transverse extension direction of said jaw members; length-adjustable, effective lever-member-tensioning means positioned in vertically spaced relationship with respect to said fulcrum means and effectively interconnecting corresponding portions of said lever members and having an atrest jaw-open position providing a predetermined, controllably adjustable, initial transverse spacing between said corresponding portions of said lever members which correspondingly causes a predetermined, controllably adjustable transverse spacing between said jaw members when in fully open relationship; and jaw operating, retaining, and releasing means operable into one extreme jaw-open position releasing said jaw members and allowing said lever-member-tensioning means to effectively cause said jaw members to move into a fully open relationship and forcibly operable to any desired extent toward an opposite extreme jawclosed relationship whereby to forcibly resiliently close said opposed, previously open jaw members into a jaw-closed relationship of any desired extent wherein said opposed jaw members are spaced apart by any different predetermined desired spacing corresponding to The thickness of a garment to be engaged and held by said closed, opposed jaw members, including manually adjustable means for modifying the initial effective length of said lever-member-tensioning means for modifying said initial spacing between said corresponding portions of said lever members and said initial spacing between said jaw members when in fully open relationship. 